San Diego doctor Jennings Staley sentenced in hydroxychloroquine scheme

In March and April of 2020, because the coronavirus unfold and people isolated in their houses, a health care provider in San Diego boasted that he had his fingers on a “miracle treatment,” in keeping with prosecutors — hydroxychloroquine.

In mass-marketing emails from his enterprise, Skinny Beach Med Spa, Jennings Ryan Staley mentioned the drug was included in his coronavirus “treatment kits,” regardless of the remedy turning into more and more scarce. But Staley had a means of getting it, he later told an undercover federal agent. He deliberate to smuggle in a barrel of hydroxychloroquine powder with the help of a Chinese provider, prosecutors stated.

Staley was sentenced last week to 30 days in prison and a yr of dwelling confinement for the scheme. He pleaded responsible last year.

“On the height of the pandemic, earlier than vaccines had been obtainable, this physician sought to profit from sufferers’ fears,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a news release. “He abused his place of belief and undermined the integrity of the whole medical career.”

Staley’s legal professional didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

How false hope unfold about hydroxychloroquine to deal with covid-19 — and the consequences that adopted

Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed to folks with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and is used to deal with malaria. The drug was repeatedly touted by President Donald Trump, starting in the early days of the pandemic, as a “sport changer.” Trump’s endorsement induced demand for the drug to spike, resulting in shortages and finally affecting those that needed it for non-covid health issues. Research later found that hydroxychloroquine shouldn't be an effective remedy for covid and did not stop individuals from becoming sick.

According to prosecutors, federal brokers began wanting into Staley after involved prospects alerted the FBI to the marketing emails from Skinny Seashore Med Spa. The business marketed “world-class beauty innovations at inexpensive costs,” court docket documents show, and offered services together with Botox, fat switch, hair elimination and tattoo removal.

The covid treatment package came with a 30-day “concierge medical experience,” intravenous drips, access to medical hyperbaric oxygen (at an extra payment), and prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and anti-anxiety medicines, information show.

In late March 2020, an spy responded to one of many emails and inquired concerning the therapy package, investigators mentioned. When Staley and the agent spoke on the phone soon after, the doctor falsely claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “magic bullet” and an “superb cure” that might maintain someone immune from covid for not less than six weeks, in accordance with courtroom information.

“It’s preventive and curative,” Staley mentioned to the secret agent, courtroom paperwork present. “It’s arduous to consider, it’s virtually too good to be true. But it surely’s a exceptional clinical phenomenon.”

He added that the virus “literally disappears in hours” after an individual takes the drug.

When requested by the agent whether the medicine was a “assured” treatment for covid, Staley stated yes but certified that “there’s always exceptions” and “there are not any guarantees in life,” courtroom data show.

During the name, Staley additionally told the agent how he was sourcing the hydroxychloroquine. He mentioned that he “received the last tank of hydroxychloroquine smuggled out of China,” data present, and that he “tricked customs” by labeling the barrel as “sweet potato extract.” He added that the powder was sufficient to make 8,000 doses in gelatin capsules.

Staley later provided the agent prescriptions for generic variations of Viagra and Xanax, a federally managed substance, despite by no means asking him “any medical questions,” prosecutors mentioned. The agent ordered six kits — enough for himself and 5 members of the family — for $4,000, based on court docket documents.

A Florida man received thousands and thousands in coronavirus help. He used it to buy a Lamborghini, prosecutors say.

Staley was charged in mid-April 2020 and pleaded guilty in July 2021. As a part of his plea agreement, Staley additionally admitted to posing as certainly one of his workers to fill a prescription for hydroxychloroquine to then use it in his kits, prosecutors said. And he agreed to accusations that he lied to federal brokers throughout the investigation.

“Dr. Staley offered a ‘magic bullet’ — a assured treatment for COVID-19 to individuals gripped in worry during a world pandemic,” FBI Special Agent in Cost Suzanne Turner said in a information launch when Staley pleaded guilty. “Right now, Dr. Staley admitted it was all a lie as part of a scam to make a fast buck.”

As part of his sentencing on Friday, Staley was ordered to pay a $10,000 high quality and to present again the $4,000 the federal agent paid for his household’s package. He additionally needed to hand over “greater than 4,500 tablets of assorted pharmaceutical drugs, multiple bags of empty pill capsules, and a handbook capsule-filling machine,” prosecutors said.

In response to records from the medical board of California, Staley’s license has been quickly suspended by a courtroom order.